JULY 15, 1913 



SIFTING TO FIND THE QUEEN 

 A Quicker and More Convenient Method 



BY G. C. GREINER 



Since Mr. Keep wishes to know a little 

 more about finding the queen by the sifting 

 process, page 703, Nov. 1, 1912, I will give 

 some data from my 1911 foul-brood cam- 

 paign, from which Mr. K. may draw his 

 OAvn conclusions. But by way of preface 

 1 will say that the beekeeper with some 

 experience, who keeps Italian bees and uses 

 loose-hanging frames, very seldom if ever 

 needs to resort to any queen-finding device. 

 The reader may wonder what a loose-hang- 

 ing frame has to do with. finding the c^ueen. 

 A great deal, as I will explain later on. 



The device described by Mr. B. Keep, on 

 the above-mentioned page, may give the 

 desired result with the Hoffman or any 

 other self-spaced frame; but it will not 

 work so well with the loose-hanging frame. 

 One serious objection to his modus oper- 

 andi makes itself apparent at first sight. 



application originated with the writer, is 

 simply a square piece of excluding zinc of 

 proper size, with a little wing made of y2- 

 inch lumber, on each side, to fit against the 

 hive, and about half way down the stand. 

 A little screw or nail on each lower corner, 

 partly driven in, keeps it in place. It can 

 be adjusted or detached in less than a min- 

 ute. Its essential points are, first, large 

 size to keep from clogging up; second, 

 slanting position to assist bees in getting 

 solid foothold; thii'd, the hive with the at- 

 tached sieve should be placed on the old 

 accustomed stand, that the homecoming 

 bees and those that take wing when the 

 combs are being shaken may readily find 

 their home. 



When the queen is wanted, her hive is 

 moved in front of the old stand, and the 

 empty one set in its place. We then re- 

 move the outside comb on the opposite side,- 

 and with a shake or two and a brush or two 

 all bees, even to the last one, are dropped 

 close to the alighting-board of the old 

 stand, after which the comb is placed also 



His com.bs have to be shaken and brushed 

 clear from bees (and queen) inside of the 

 hive or on top of the frames, and this is one 

 very unpleasant feature of Mr. K.'s plan, 

 as all beekeepers who have had any expe- 

 rience in this particular work can testify. 

 If it is done in the hive, bees are liable to 

 be jammed or the queen injured; or if done 

 on top of the frames, bees may fly over the 

 edge of the liive, and who knows that the 

 queen is not among them? Then the trans- 

 ferring of combs from the upper to the 

 lower hive is not any too handy, although 

 it can be done, if there is no alternative; 

 but there is a better and quicker way. 



I would now call Mr. K.'s attention to 

 the accompanying drawing. It is just such 

 a scene as I have caused and witnessed re- 

 1 eatodly during my foul-brood operations. 

 This device, which I call " Greiner's queen- 

 sieve " because the particular Avay of its 



on the opposite side of the empty hive. 

 The same operation is repeated with all 

 the combs; and when the old hive is strip- 

 ped of its contents the new one has the 

 combs in the same rotation they Avere be- 

 fore. In the mean time bees have begun to 

 travel toward their accustomed home, and, 

 in com.pany with home-coming bees, are 

 sifting through the excluder, where, sooner 

 or later, tlie queen may be found. 



Comparing this operation with Mr. K.'s 

 plan I venture to say that it can be done 

 in half the time. There is nothing to hin- 

 der the free handling of combs; shaking 

 and brushing can be done in a hurry, trans- 

 ferring combs from one place to the other 

 is the handiest imaginable, and the finding 

 of the queen in open daylight much easier 

 than to look for one in a bee-covered hive. 



But tliei'e is another point that tallies on 

 my side. While Mr. K. has to shake, brush. 



